This will be our first and last Sports day in this Nursery School here in Osaka, Minoh City. Anyway, I think my little princess enjoyed it. I will miss this school as well because I also made friends of mothers community. They all kind and helpful will definitely miss them.
So, adorable they are, tiny and cute. They had the running race, relay, obstacles and shot that ball. Please have time to watch the video how they so adorable and tiny they are.
My son’s sports day. It was our 4th year attending sports day of his school and also our last for this year. Well, He (my son) definitely miss his friends and classmates. That’s why when we first time told him he started crying. But, now I think he will accept it. And, that for us to stay no more transfer and he can gain more friends there. He easily deals with the kids now, because he is now fluent in Japanese. So, he can talk to them.
The sun really shines so brightly!… very hot and humid… we are sweating a lot. Anyway, we enjoyed watching our kids having so much fun. Have time to watch the video I complied. See below.
This is what I like about Japan. They don’t have break time when your working in the government like city hall/municipals. We (together with my kids) need to get family registry, address registration and passport. And all the employees are so darn, helpful and kind. We don’t experience this in our entire life when we are living in our own country. Gosh, you will surely see the difference between the two countries. I don’t know why my own country is like they don’t have this urgency thing. They had lunch breaks which no one will assist you. Sometimes about more than an hour. Don’t get me wrong if you choose the job in the government it should be dedicated to your work and can also be alternate to take a lunch break, but my original country I still love it except the government.
We arrived in the City Hall around 9am and we all done around 11am. To think I have to re-write the passport application form which I took some time to write it because in Japanese (Kanji, katakana, and hiragana) that’s tough for me. My hands are shaking because too difficult :(. They assist me totally until the end, even though I really don’t talk much in Japanese but I understand what they say.
Then, September 22 – we have to get our passport personally. They will look at you and say your name, birthday and where you live. We are now officially Japanese citizens.
Bye bye, Philippines Passport and Konnichiwa Nihon Passport. Sad to say, they don’t allow dual citizens. But, anyway… we choose to stay here for long period of time but of course, we will visit The Philippines because of our family and friends…
We attended Summer Festival in the school of my son (Minoo Higashi Elementary School) Of course, we show respect to wear yukata for this festival even though we are a foreigner.
It started around 4 pm to 9:30 pm. They are a lot of food stall and toys as well.
See how adorable they are when wearing yukata dress (kimono for summer).
The Kinosaki Marine World is an aquarium united with nature where the Japanese sea view unfolds before your eyes.
Not only can you enjoy the sea beings in each area, you can also enjoy many exciting shows.
We got time to visit this place or because we don’t want to do public hot spring because is so hot like 35 degrees, I guess.
INFORMATION:
9.00 am – 5.00 pm (Entry until 4.30 pm)
* July 20 – August 31: 9.00 am – 6.00 pm
* We change our business hours during Golden Week, summer and the O-bon period.
*Open all year
*We have a map written in English.Please ask us for this.
Entrance fees
Adult
Children(6~15yo)
Small children (3~5yo)
2,470 yen
1,230 yen
620 yen
Parking
Charge (1 day) Passenger vehicles 700 yen / buses, microbuses 1,400 yen
We just loved watching different fishes or unique/weird fish in the aquarium.
Dolphin and sea lion shows
The dolphins and sea lions change each year.
At Sealand Stadium, we have captivating show times for people to share with dolphins, sea lions and penguins!
We have a chance to watch this shows. Interesting.
She likes penguin and turtle, but sad we didn’t saw any turtles.
She loves it seeing these walking penguins, and she wants to grab one.
Kids really love this place and they enjoy a lot. For more information, you can visit their English website: Kinosaki Marine World
Kinosaki is famous as a resort area, with onsen (Japanese hot springs). In 1913, the writer Shiga Naoya came to Kinosaki and stayed there for three weeks. Kinosaki provided inspiration for his short story, Kinosaki ni te or "In Kinosaki".
There are seven public onsen bath houses in Kinosaki Onsen. Tourists staying in most of the ryokans (Japanese traditional inns) in Kinosaki can receive a free pass to all seven. It is common for tourists staying in Kinosaki Onsen to walk around in yukata, this saves them having to change into their own clothes every time they use an onsen.
A feature is the fountains in the square where mesh bags of eggs can be immersed and boiled while you wait. There are several ashiyu foot baths with running hot spring water where one can sit by the edge of the road and relax while soaking one's feet. A ropeway at the far end of the street transports visitors to the top of Mt Taishi, which has spectacular views of the town and Japan sea coastline.
It will be better if you will come here in the winter season. But, the snow here is thick. We are to buy snow tire now. So, that we can drive there.
We are a bit early so, we have to look around the area and we also need to eat lunch as well.
So, good and tasty the crab and shrimp, I love it!!!
Now, we are check-in the hotel. Morizuya Ryokan is the name of the place we stay. Japanese style room and clean of course.
I can't imagine this is quite a lot for us. Anyway, the price of this place is worth it.
We have time to attend the "Ubon Festival" and wearing Yukata clothes. We watched the fireworks display for summer and it held only weekdays.
What I like about this place. They have family onsen but, it will only start 6:30 pm and will close until 11 pm. Lovely place. Anyway, perhaps I would say this place is nice location center of the streets of shops and restaurant. And we had time to go to the Kinosaki Marine World. I will separate the post for that. But, Of course, I will post here the video for you to see.
Our first time to attend this festival, they call it Tanabata Matsuri (Star Festival).
Tanabata (七夕, meaning “Evening of the seventh”), also known as the Star Festival, is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival.[1] It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively). According to legend, the Milky Way separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. The date of Tanabata varies by region of the country, but the first festivities begin on 7 July of the Gregorian calendar. The celebration is held at various days between July and August.
They all so kawaii (cute) wearing summer kimono (yukata).
(sorry I have to cover their faces for security of the kids, it’s a Japanese culture)
Customs:
In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, on tanzaku (短冊tanzaku), small pieces of paper, and hanging them on bamboo, sometimes with other decorations (see also Wish Tree). The bamboo and decorations are often set afloat on a river or burned after the festival, around midnight or on the next day.[8] This resembles the custom of floating paper ships and candles on rivers during Obon. Many areas in Japan have their own Tanabata customs, which are mostly related to local Obon traditions. There is also a traditional Tanabata song:[9]
Sasa no ha sara-sara Nokiba ni yureru Ohoshi-sama kira-kira Kingin sunago Goshiki no tanzaku watashi ga kaita Ohoshi-sama kirakira sora kara miteru
The bamboo leaves rustle,
shaking away in the leaves.
The stars twinkle
on the gold and silver grains of sand.
The five-colour paper strips
I have already written.
The stars twinkle,
they watch us from heaven.
The most popular version is as follows:[4][5][6][7]
Orihime (織姫Weaving Princess), daughter of the Tentei (天帝Sky King, or the universe itself), wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa (天の川Milky Way, lit. “heavenly river”). Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (彦星Cowman/Cowherd Star, or literally Boy Star) (also referred to as Kengyuu (牽牛)) who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa. When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime no longer would weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter’s tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if she worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet.
I got limited pictures because I’m just using my phone forgot to bring my camera 😦 anyway, I got a short video to share, see below.
We had a short trip in Yokohama (Kanagawa), just because my husband will have a final interview one of the biggest company. He had already turned it down, 2mos ago but still they do really like him and far for that his asking price has been exceeded. It’s so troublesome for us to transfer from different places here in Japan because of Kids, Schools and also their friends and we get to know our neighborhood as well.
Yokohama’s population of 3.7 million makes it Japan’s largest city after the Special Wards of Tokyo. Yokohama developed rapidly as Japan’s prominent port city following the end of Japan’s relative isolation in the mid-19th century, and is today one of its major ports along with Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, Hakata, Tokyo, and Chiba.
We had productive trip, First we have to see the surrounding places and house trip. Yeah, a bit expensive to live in a big City like Yokohama compare to the Osaka sort of laid back life. The fast paced life in the City, kids will be develop how to be punctual and be aware of the surroundings even though the whole Japan is a Safe country. Anyway, after our house tripping, we have time to look around the area.
All I can say, busy street and so many people. We are going to the biggest China Town in Japan. It was really big and the food so, tasty.
Yokohama Chinatown (Japanese: 横浜中華街, yokohama chūkagai; Simplified Chinese: 横滨中华街; Traditional Chinese: 横濱中華街; Pinyin: Héngbīn Zhōnghuá Jiē; CantoneseJyutping: Waang4 ban1 zung1 waa4 gaai1) is located in Yokohama, Japan, which is located just south of Tokyo. Its history is about 150 years long. Today only a few Chinesepeople still live in Chinatown, but it has a population of about 3,000 to 4,000. Most of the residents are from Guangzhou (Canton) but many come from other regions.
Yokohama Chinatown is the largest Chinatown not only in Japan but also in Asia (larger than Chinatowns in both Kobe and Nagasaki) and it is one of the largest in the world[citation needed]. There are roughly 250 Chinese-owned/themed shops and restaurants scattered throughout the district, with the highest concentration centered on a 300 square metre area.
And of course, trip without eating is no sense at all. We went to the Chinese food eat all you can. In short we pig out!
On the 2nd Day, In the morning and late afternoon we have house, tripping means we are looking a place to live. Afterwards, fun day for the kids we went to the “Cosmo World”.(Cosmo Clock 21)
In 1997 the structure was dismantled, then in 1999 relocated onto a taller base which increased its overall height to 112.5 metres (369 ft).[3][4]
Cosmo Clock 21 has 60 passenger cars,[5] each capable of carrying up to eight people. One rotation of the 100-metre (330 ft) diameter wheel takes 15 minutes.
And, we go to the Nissin Noodles Museum, and we made our own noodles. You can check the site click here.
What I like to travelling in Japan this one…
LOCKER…. LOCKER …. LOCKER!!! Everywhere in the train station mostly and it was SAFE. I didn’t hear a news that they lost their valuable inside the locker. Because we have to check out 11am and our bullet train (Shin-Yokohama to Shin-Osaka) will be late afternoon we have some time to look around. So, we decided to place our luggage inside those lockers.
Our first time to go here, One of my japanese friend invited us here.
Facing Kobe bay, the commercial complex of shopping mall, restaurants, cinemas and other amusement facilities, hotels and wedding center Kobe Harborland is truely a pearl lying on the edge of land, shining dazzlingly over a large space of waterfront at night. In fact, the complex originated in the former site of the Japanese National Railways Minatogawa Kamotsu Station. Kobe General Children’s Center was the very first facility appearing at Harborland. The year 1990 remarked several important events held in Kobe Harborland including the first gas lamp lighting event at Kobe Gaslight street, the opening of Kobe Harborland General Information Center, Kobe city General Education Center and the Brick Warehouse restaurants. After the construction of Harborland Event Square Hanekko Hiroba and the pedestrian bridge Hanekko was completed in 1991, Kobe Harborland was officially opened as a town, a veritable cultural hub linking the land and sea in such a active and modern commercial complex, leading to the open of a series of important facilities including of Hotel New Otani, Kobe Seibu Department store, Duo Kobe, Augusta Plaza, Hankyu Department Store and Mosaic.
From our house to this place, it took us 1 1/2 hours. And, our kids happy to have long trip they are watching their favorite cartoons Totoro and Doraemon.
Look at the view is so gorgeous, and the big cruise in the other side of the port. We go early ’cause we know that it will be traffic because it was Golden Week Holiday.
Mosaic and Canal Garden are two largest shopping complexes located in Harborland. While Mosaic takes advantage of lying along the waterfront, holding aloft the signboard outstanding from the distance and featuring a complex of boutiques and restaurants, Canal Garden owns the Hankyu Department store, Sofmap electronics tore and sports store. The brick warehousescreate an outstanding construction in the middle of Kobe Harborland by the impressive classical architecture. The houses used to be used to store cargo from ships around the port before becoming home of several restaurants. An other remarkable construction, Hanekko pedestrian bridge comes over the little stream by the event square Hanekko Hiroba. Hanekko is the pioneer in applying the European style in construction which wings can be lifted up to allow ships to pass. The bridge will be extremely splendid at night by the illumination of about 1700 light bulbs.
A happy kid because we go inside the shops of the Anpanman Museum but not the Museum itself. Because we are early so, we had time to stroll around the vicinity.
Here’s the main reason we went here to eat Brazilian Food. It was “meat all you eat”. It was terrific and delicious food. The name of the restaurant is Brasiliano, nice place the staff are from Brazil but they can converse in Japanese. I just love the beans and the sauce on it and i don’t know what does it called, but great food. Very friendly Staff even though it was so, many people they can still manage not to let the customer waited too long.
We had time to ask the staff to take us pictures. Then, we stroll outside to look the scenery. The big cruise at the opposite side was already sail away. I told to my husband once He had long vacation we should try to do Cruise Trip. Well, put in the family bucket list.
A great thing we went to the side of the Mall, we had time to go the Kawasaki and Marine Museum. Kids enjoy it so much. Of course Kawasaki is all about motors, history and different kinds of motors from small to big one.
While, the other kids are still enjoying the Kawasaki Museum, we went to the Marine and take pictures with my little princess. Different ships, boats anything in the water transport.
We just recently watch this in the TV. The Time Capsule, 1987 – 2017 – But, they didn’t show what’s inside the capsule.
While walking, we saw this man doing some balloon art. Then, my girl she don’t want to go until she requested to make anpanman balloon. So, cute right.
Anpanman (アンパンマン?) is a Japanese picture book series written by Takashi Yanase, running from 1973 until the creator died in 2013. The series has been adapted into an anime entitled Soreike! Anpanman (それいけ!アンパンマン?, Let’s Go! Anpanman), which is one of the most popular anime series among young children in Japan. The series follows the adventures of Anpanman, a superhero with an anpan (a bean-jam filled pastry) for a head, who protects the world from an evil anthropomorphic germ named Baikinman.
Heavily merchandised, the Anpanman characters appear on virtually every imaginable children’s product in Japan, ranging from clothes[1] to video games to toys to snack foods.
Well, there’s a lot of character in Anpanman Cartoons. Babies or Toddlers love this Anpanman cartoon. Just check this link here.
This place so awesome, the restaurant in the middle of nowwhere just kidding middle of the fields.
This was inside their Toilet wall decor. I wanted to do this also. Soon! if we own the house because we are just renting it, I mean the company of my husband renting it for us. We are not allowed to make holes in the wall.
Their food is tasty and healthy. Oh, the salad is to die for. I love the dressing of it. The pasta is just so-so. The pizza was delicious as well. I will definitely go back here because of the Salad.
Kids here will also enjoy, there is a place to play while waiting for the turn to seat and also after lunch time to play for kids. Interesting concepts.
What’s good about this place was they sell garden materials, tools, plants, herbs and flowers. They’re so beautiful, especially those flowers, colorful and vibrant. I want them all but we don’t have the garden yet.
My own verdict: The price is expensive, but I think is worth it because it’s their own grown vegetables and healthy. (4 star) Recommended to try. Here’s there website: The Farmer
Open 10: 00-18: 00 (except the schedule below)
〒568-0095 Osaka prefecture Ibaraki-shi Saho 194-4 Google Maps
